McAleese response: Refreshing honesty

There is a refreshing ring of honesty and pragmatism to the "bonkers" response of former President Mary McAleese to Pope Francis’s call for a synod of bishops to review Catholic Church teaching on family life.

Mrs McAleese said there was “just something profoundly wrong and skewed” about asking clergy for their views when they were all “male celibates”.

This is of course the disconnect between religious theory and practical life that has done so much to marginalise Catholic influence. Mrs McAleese’s position as a committed Catholic and her role as former head of state and academic means her views cannot be easily ignored. That such a proposal was even made indicates that despite Pope Francis’s undoubted charisma and charm, beneath that lies a conservative committed to the Church view of male dominance and family.